MONTANA UNIVERSITY SYSTEM

Developmental Education Reform TaskforceFinal Report & Recommendations

May 8, 2013

Assistant VP Sharon O’Hare (UM) Deputy Commissioner Dr. John Cech

Interim Deputy Commissioner Dr. Neil Moisey

MUS Priority

• One of the top priorities of the BOR Two-Year and Community College Committee

• Conduct baseline analysis of MT Developmental Education Programs

• Analysis of existing developmental education reform efforts both nationally and in MT

• Develop recommendations to the BOR

Need for Remediation Reduces Likelihood of Graduation

National Statistics:34% of all new entering college students enrolled in at least 1 remedial course. (U.S. Dept of Education)

Montana Statistics- Fall 2012: 28.5% of entering freshmen from MT high schools enroll in at least 1 remedial course, down from 37% in 2006. (MUS High School Follow-up Report)

Current Dev Ed Reform Programs

Excellence in Action Now

FVCC: Course acceleration. Students complete both M061 and M065 in one semester.

MCC: Course acceleration. Students with appropriate COMPASS scores may complete WRIT 015 and WRIT 095 concurrently.

UM Western: Removing stop-out points. M090/M095 are taught as a linked course over two blocks.

Current Dev Ed Reform Programs

Excellence in Action Now

Helena College UM: Co-requisite instead of prerequisite. Students needing dev ed in writing register for WRIT101 with WRIT 096 as a co-requisite lab.

Gallatin College/MSU: Integrate learning with basic skills/college success program by having a student cohort take M065, WRIT 095 and COLS 100 (Effective Academic Practices).

Pilot Projects Underway/Planned

Gallatin College (spring): lab and mastery-based option for M096 Survey of Algebra; (fall) – M065 Pre-algebra linked with M066 Pre-algebra lab w/study skills, M085 Pre-Algebra computer-based, accelerated format incorporating mastery learning; also considering a non-algebra alternative for non-STEM students

Helena College & Great Falls College: accelerating and modularizing M090 Introductory Algebra and M095 Intermediate Algebra into one M098 course

Helena College: Co-requisite M091/M121 to embed Intermediate Algebra into the College Algebra curriculum

Mathematics

Pilot Projects Underway/Planned

Highlands College: combine computerized Hawkes Learning System with printed study guides, possibly “flipping” the classroom

UM Office for Student Success (summer): freshmen wanting to raise their math placement take a 4-week online remediation program (EdReady) with UM academic coaching. EdReady is a Gates Foundation-funded initiative.

UM Montana Math Sciences department (fall): Co-requisite, EdReady online lab for students needing moderate skills refresher for gateway courses.

Mathematics

Pilot Projects Underway/Planned

Aaniiih Nakoda College, Great Falls College, Helena College, Highlands College, possibly Missoula College, possibly City College: Using a lab or co-requisite model to move more college-ready WRIT 095 Developmental Writing students directly into WRIT 101 College Composition I

Writing

Fort Peck Community College, MSU Northern: Summer/Bridge/Boot Camp

Gallatin College, Helena College, MSU Northern: Cohort/Learning Communities

Multi-Discipline

Pilot Projects Underway/Planned

Taskforce Recommendations

to BOR

“College-ready students are those who have the academic and

personal skills and behaviors to complete a college course

successfully without the need for developmental education.”

College Readiness Recommendation

1 Partner with OPI to create a college readiness communication platform.

Target both first time high school freshmen and nontraditional adult learners.

Help juniors understand what the ACT score says about college readiness.

Integrate into MUS/OPI high school-to-college “Big Sky Pathways” and with MCIS (MT Career Information System)

Placement Recommendation

2 Create a common, MUS placement system using multiple measures.

Lack of clarity and consistency for students, counselors, and parents.

Common placement system made possible by CCN common learning outcomes.

Admission to college not regarded as synonymous with college-level coursework readiness.

Dev Ed Models Recommendation

3 Create separate Developmental Education/Gateway councils for math and reading/writing.

Increase communication and scalability of evolving best practices (course redesign, placement, and assessment)

4 Instructors of developmental education should have the same status across the system.

All developmental education courses should be taught by college faculty whose supervision is integrated into the academic structure.

Dev Ed Models Recommendation

Student Success & Advising Recommendation

5 Create requirement for tracking of students enrolled in Dev Ed courses.

Monitor successful completions of students moving from dev ed and on to gateway courses. Use multiple measures of success (e.g. grade, retention, degree attainment)

6 Create policy that encourages timely dev ed completion.

BOR to strongly recommend all entering students placed into a developmental math or writing course register for those courses during their first semester.

Require they complete those initial courses by the end of the second semester. Intervene with, not suspend, those who do not.

Campuses are to report to OCHE once a year regarding developmental education completion, progression, and student success.

Policy Recommendation

Policy Recommendations

7 Allocate a portion of the performance based funding resources to support dev ed reform recommendations.

Recommend implementation with the FY16 performance funding allocation.

Next Steps

Convene an MUS Developmental Education Council tasked with: Implementing recommendations Assessing pilot and ongoing project outcomes Reporting to the BOR on program outcomes Amend Board Policies based on recommendations. Target May 2014

Questions & Discussion

Developmental Education Reform TaskforceFinal Report & Recommendations

May 24, 2013